Oscars: Every Best Picture Nominee Of The 2010s - Ranked Worst To Best
30. Brooklyn
An absolutely gorgeous period piece, Brooklyn finds Saoirse Ronan's Ellis moving to New York from Ireland in the 1950s, and becoming caught between her past and her future.
The script boasts a lot of intelligence, and the period detailing looks great, but what really makes this film work is Saoirse Ronan. She's an Oscar-favourite (although yet to win) for a good reason, and here we get a thoughtful, strong performance that really captures an authentic sense of being pulled in two different directions, of having to make a difficult choice, and of struggles between identity and love.
It's unabashedly romantic, and all the better for it. It's the kind of elegant, old-fashioned romance to make you swoon, and Brooklyn delivers that and then some, making you unable to resist falling for all of its charms.
JH
29. 12 Years A Slave
12 Years A Slave is one of the most harrowing films you'll ever see. Based on the real life of Solomon Northup, a free man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery for 12 years in 1841, calling Steve McQueen's biopic "Oscar bait" would be selling it entirely short. There's an abrasiveness with which the director tackles the material, breaking it down and making it personal yet reflective of a historical event much larger than one man.
McQueen's presentation is stark and unrelenting, but 12 Years isn't just torturous for the sake of the subject matter, but intertwined with genuine hope, nuance and humanity that makes it feel incredibly real.
It's not perfect, and there's a baffling cameo from Brad Pitt that totally sucks you out of it for a little bit, but McQueen translates this essential true story over the big screen with a mixture of grace and anger that most filmmakers simply wouldn't have been able to achieve.
JB
28. Manchester By The Sea
Written and directed by playwright Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester By The Sea's biggest strength is its screenplay: there are just enough small injections of humour in there to prevent it from becoming overly bleak, and it's structured in such a way that we only learn the true meaning of things later in the film. It keeps us invested in what's a slow-moving piece, and also means that when it lands, it hits you like an emotional sledgehammer.
It's a quiet rumination on grief, which occasionally explodes into complete devastation and anger, and is carred by an incredible turn from Casey Affleck as a man more hollowed-out than even he realises. A devastating snapshot of life that leaves somehow still leaves you wanting more after 137 minutes, it's one of the most brutal movies on the list, but it earns that emotion.
And if nothing else, the scene between Affleck and Michelle Williams - the one they put on the posters, it's that good - is among the most heart-wrenching movie moments of the decade.
JH
27. Argo
"It means Argo f*ck yourself." That might not be the most elegant line in Ben Affleck's adaptation of Argo (based, as so many great things are, on a magazine article) but it bristles with the kind of confidence that makes the whole film so eminently watchable. Written incredibly well (a running theme for Oscar contenders, you'll usually find) and with a cast that would make Wes Anderson glow with envy, this tale of espionage and real people saved by extraordinary measures is a dlight.
The whole thing is very brown, but that's what the 1970s were like (possibly) and what matters is how well Affleck captures not only a historical moment but also an emotional one, building to a crescendo in the final escape sequence that's accompanied by a thumping soundtrack you'll only realise afterwards is your poor, protesting heart not knowing what's happening to you.
SG